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The Guitar Pron Thread


Celery Man

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1 hour ago, Chad Fuck said:


Beautiful. Does it play as good as it looks?

Short answer is fuck yes.

The tl;dr answer: hype on these is that they are “as good as a Gibson at 1/3rd the price!”   They are made in China but handcrafted by violin makers using all USA hardware, pickups and electronics.  Lots of posts on the gear page, etc... saying they are the best value in guitars today, blah blah.  So I took a $900 flier on a used one to see for myself.

I have two Gibby’s — a LP standard 60s and ES-330.  I would say this Eastman T486 absolutely belongs in that group.  After a couple hours playing the Eastman I would rank them like so:

Playability:  Eastman may be slightly the best of the three.  It has a slightly wider neck and that may just fit my hand better.  Frets are good and feel played in. Felt good everywhere on the neck playing a variety of styles.  All of them are a joy to play.

Tone:  ES-330 is my fave of the 3 overall and has the best neck pickup tones for bluesy/jazzy stuff.  The bridge pickup tones on the Eastman while driven are phenomenal and the best of three.  Just the right hint of resonance on top of the ringing driven sustain of the LP.  The neck pickup of the Eastman is a little perplexing to me.  It’s my least favorite of the three and by a fairly large margin.  Those bluesy jazzy settings that sound great on both Gibby’s neck pickups sound way too bright and jangly on the Eastman.  I am going to need to experiment there and possibly consider replacing the pickup (it’s a Seymore Duncan Jazz pickup).

Quality, fIt & finish:  Eastman wins.  It stays in tune better and just feels like it’s put together with more craftsmanship and attention to detail.

Looks:  Tie.  I think they are all lookers.

So my goal was to spend under a grand and have a great playing guitar that makes me forget I don’t have an ES-335.  It needed to be as compelling to play as my more expensive Gibsons because who gives a shit if your spending “only $900” if the guitar just sits on the wall because it can’t compete for your attention?

The Eastman accomplishes all of that.  Maybe more if I can figure out that neck pickup.

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On 5/2/2020 at 3:06 PM, DougO said:

 

Stopped by a pawn shop today where they've had a natural Epiphone 339 Pro P90 hanging for a good while. I finally inquied about their bottom line, offered $200, they said the best they could do was $250 plus tax. I asked "how about tax included?" No go. I wasn't really hot to buy a guitar at this point so the $20-ish tax was enough to make me pass...for now. It comes with some kind of crappy soft case which they wouldn't pull out for me, no hard case. The guitar seems in good shape, no easily detectable marks. I'm gonna stew on it for a while, but I'm not really chomping at the bit at this point. I have no semi-hollow electrics in my arsenal that I rarely play anyway.

What do y'all think about that deal?

 

Somebody bought this guitar, which is probably a good thing. I shall wear the cone of shame for failing to produce an NGD.

I saw it hanging in the repair station at the local music store, probably brought in for a setup. I hope it was expensive, they paid full ticket price or it was a Surly guitar pron poster that got a great deal.

The tax on $250 kept me from buying it. That was my bottom line. So, what do I buy now?

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31 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

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These are kinda cool. They didn’t make me a better finger picker but at least I can’t drop them. They are spring loaded and don’t squeeze my finger so uncomfortably.

That's pretty interesting.  How does the spring work?  Is the pick "floppy"?  I'd like something like that for lap/pedal steel, but It has to be able to to work without using the index finger to hold the pick steady.  Maybe I'll just have to craft my own thumb pick holding gizmo.

 

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That's pretty interesting.  How does the spring work?  Is the pick "floppy"?  I'd like something like that for lap/pedal steel, but It has to be able to to work without using the index finger to hold the pick steady.  Maybe I'll just have to craft my own thumb pick holding gizmo.
 


The pick is on the heavy side. The spring is tight enough that it doesn’t move around but not uncomfortable like other thumb picks I’ve tried. They were an impulse buy from an IG ad.
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So first impressions: there are a few little fit and finish issues as expected, and they need a little setup work (fret buzz). Neck like a baseball bat. But they sound pretty damn good through the Fender.

The Facebook group has lists of drop in parts so I’ll probably at least replace the tuners at some point. They’re crap.

And I don’t love the lack of belly cut for my belly.

But I’m most impressed with how they both sound. They definitely prefer the Fender to the Katana at least initially. And they look pretty spiffy.

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It would seem to me that if the neck joint is at least somewhat routed well and you can get a decent plane and consistent action then you could replace everything else if you wanted and still be in it for cheap. They look great.

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On 5/19/2020 at 6:15 AM, Chad Fuck said:


Beautiful. Does it play as good as it looks?

I am going to swap out the Eastman’s SD jazz neck pup for a SD Seth Lover pickup.  Haven’t changed a pup in 30 years and never on a hollow/semi-hollow.  Is it as easy as it looks in this video?  Or am I going to probably fuck shit up to where I wish I had just dropped it off with someone competent?

No backplate access has me envisioning a really fucked up game of Operation through an F-hole for some fumbled piece.  “Take out the pot for one-hundred dollars!  Don’t touch the sides!   BZZZZT!”

 

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8 minutes ago, Deej said:

Accidentally negged you. 

Should have built that on top of a bar if you wanted to keep up with AUTF. 

I don't  think that would be big enough for all my gear.

Don’t think anyone is competition for AUTF’s space 🙂.  But I’m pretty stoked at what I’ve built.

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